Couple clash over private school for son

A divorcing couple's dispute over proceeds from the sale of a sports car, another's disagreement over the private school their son should attend, and the failure of the EBS to co-operate with a separating couple, were among issues teased out at the Dublin Family Circuit Court yesterday.

A divorcing couple, who had no children, told Judge Margaret Heneghan they had come to an agreement about the division of their assets. The husband had previously spent two hours outlining in detail his savings and bank accounts.

He described himself as “quite frugal” and told the court of his shock in May 2008 when his wife told him she did not love him anymore and wanted to leave.

He said that they had bought a €53,000 sports car only “weeks” before she told him, and that they had recently returned from a skiing holiday together.

He wanted to remain in the family home and questioned where the proceeds of the sale of the sports car had gone.

Difficulties
The wife believed the marriage had been in difficulties since 2005, her counsel told the court.

They had both worked in the same profession and started out earning the same wage, but by 2007, she was earning more than €160,000, twice that of her husband.

The court heard she was no longer in that employment and had worked abroad for a time, before returning to Ireland. She had sold the sports car for €23,000. She now wanted to live in the family home.

The agreement reached included that the wife would buy out the family home, paying €220,000 to her former husband, the savings would be split evenly and the wife would keep the proceeds of the sports car sale.

In a different case involving a separating couple, the court heard the parties had married in their home country in 2007 and had been living in Ireland since 2001. They bought their first home in 2013 for €571,000. The husband wanted to sell it, while the wife wanted to remain living in it until their son was 18.

Very bad marriage
Giving evidence, the husband said the marriage had been "going very bad", when his wife asked that they buy a house together as a project they could work on. He reluctantly agreed.

“And she said she would do some work on herself to improve our relationship,” he said.

But though they bought the house in May 2013, they never lived together in it.

The husband said their son was attending a private primary school with fees of €8,000 a year, but he thought this was too much. There were other private schools that only charged €6,000, he said.

Under cross-examination by his wife’s counsel, he conceded he had agreed to his son’s attendance at the school, but now thought his wife should contribute to the cost of education. The case continues next week.

In another case, the judge said it was “entirely wrong” that a couple had been waiting since 2011 to have their separation finalised because of “obstruction” from the EBS.

The judge also said she was “not impressed” that the building society was not present in the court yesterday despite its knowledge of the case and a previous subpoena.

No co-operation
The couple involved owned a number of investment properties between them and wanted to sell some and remove the wife's name from the mortgages of others. But the building society had not been co-operating, the court heard.

The judge ordered that the EBS appear in court on the next occasion.